The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-11-05
The Sunday School
LESSON FOR NOVEMBER 10. 1887.
BY REV. ROBERT T. POLK.
CHRISTS WITNESS TO JOHN.
Matthew xi. 2-15.
JOHN.
Matthew xi. 2-15.


The occasion of JESUS public ministry in
GaIilee was the imprisonment of John the
Baptist (iv. IL, I'D by order of Herod Anti
pas, the provincial governor, whose unlawful
marriage with his brother Philips wife had
been severely denounced by the bold prophet
of the wilderness, and the security of whose
reign was apparently endangered by the
popular interest awakened in the strange
preachers message announcing the near ap-
proach of the kingdom of heaven. He may
have been sent to prison on charge of sedi-
ton for disturbing the peace of the realm,
though the Evangelists declare the immedi-
ate cause to have been the anger of Herodi-
as the unlawful wife, who desired to kill him
because of his denunciation oil the unlawful
marriage.
According to Josephus, the Jewish histo-
rian, John was imprisoned in the Castle of
Macbarus, few miles east of the Dead Sea
(see map), At this place Herod the Great
had erected an extensive and beautiful pal
ace which he had strongly fortified, being
near the border of his dominions and Ara
bia. Here he had resided for medical treat
ment at the mineral springs which abound
in the region. Here his son, "the tetrarch
of Galilee," the provincial governor OF the
district in which the palace was located, may
have had temporary residence. The fort
ress was about eighty miles from Capernaum
and Upper Galilee the principal scene of
JESUS public ministry. But his fame rapidly
extended to "all the region round about"
A report of JESUS popular ministry and won
derful works was carried to John in the pris-
on by his own disciples, some OF whom had
seen and heard JESUS Cv. IA; Luke vii. 49,.
John, no doubt, grew impatient, and it
may be respondent, under his long restraint.
The reports which reached him of the won
derful popularity and Divine power of JESUS
were calculated to perplex him in his thought
of the progress of the Divine kingdom of
which he was the herald He had himself
declared that JESUS was the Coming One"
for preparation of whose advent and king
dom he exercised his ministry, and whose
mower and influence would increase, while
his own should diminish. Though John was
the Divinely appointed herald of JESUS, their
ideas of the Messiah and his kingdom were
different, as were their administrations of
the truth. John may have shared the gen.
eral expectation of the Jews, that when the
Messiah should come he would speedily over
throw the power and authority of their enc
mics. and re-establish, in the righteousness
of the law and the prophets, the independent
kingdom of Israel, and promote it to uni
yersal dominion. Hearing from his disci-
ples of the wonderful popular awakening
produced by JESUS proclamation of his own
message of repentance as preparation for
the reign of the Messiah, and of the mighty
miracles which he wrought, he may have
questioned why all this popular enthusiasm
and manifest Divine power were not en-
ployed in the overthrow of their country's
oppressors and the destruction of its wicked
rulers, and his own release from unjust i'm
prisonment. In the midst of his perplexity
and despondency he might have even ques-
toned whether JESUS, after all, was the Mes
siah or not. JESUS had not even declared
himself to be the Messiah. Johns condition
may be described as that of moral discour-
agement rather than intellectual doubt. He
was evidently disappointed. The work of
JESUS and the progress of his kingdom was
not according to his expectation. He looked
for national elevation and glory. His eye
was not clear to see spiritual glory. He did
not recognize in the life of JESUS the elements
of his kingly authority and greatness;ss and
the form of his hope deceived him. Looking
for worldly power and the prosperity of Isra-
ell, he missed the view of spiritual prosperity
and the salvation of the world. He resolves
to send to JESUS himself to solve for him the
perplexing problem. We are informed by
Luke that John sent two of his disciples on
this mission to JESUS (Luke vii. 1917.
According to the records of the Evangelists
it appears that the messengers from John to
the prisoner came to JESUS after he had re-
turned to the lake region from the mountain
where the Sermon on the Mount is said to
have been spoken, and soon after the heal
ing of the centurion's slave and the raising of
the widows son at Main, when report of
him went out IL =, all the adjacent coGntry,
and Johns disciples told him all these
things" Verse l belongs to chapter K, and
has no connection with the Lesson, which be-
longs to an earlier date in JESUS ministry
than the sending forth of the apostles. In a
few instances the connection is marred by
the division of the Bible into chapters and
verses for convenience in reading (see Study
for October 16.)